Today I begin Day 3 of Keto. I think I've already gone through the carb withdrawals. I had a pretty major headache for a day, was shaky and foggy, and ate a lot on my first day. My second day, I had a much smaller headache, wasn't shaky, was less foggy andI ate less and had more energy. Who knows what today will bring, although I am feeling pretty good. The headache seems to be gone and I'm not so foggy.

I'm a 38 year old mom and wife with a substantial amount of weight to lose. I stepped on the scale at 294 on 3/8, and am just today below 290. I definitely want to lose weight, but more than anything I want to feel good and keep up with my kids. Maybe one day I'll even run, but not right now. That's not an immediate goal.

I think I tend to overthink things with this. On the 8th and 9th, I was at 22 carbs. I thought I was even less, but some carbs snuck up on me. Right now I have half an avocado in the oven with an egg inside. I'm not pleased that half an avocado clocks in at 9 carbs, especially when I'm trying to stay at or below 20 for the day. But it's high in fiber, which I'm led to believe will help with carb control. I hope this is accurate information.

I will eventually cut way back on dairy, but right now I'm using cream and butter to help up the fat content of things.

Last night, my kids had pizza. I was quite pleased with myself in that I resisted having some. The desire to have some was weak at best, and not even worth a second thought. Yesterday I had to hand-shovel some snow. I went out there, did it, and felt fine afterwards. In the past, I would have been winded, sweaty, and achy.

One last thing. Grass-fed and organic meat and dairy is not possible in this diet for me. I'm sure cost would be a problem, but more than anything, my small town carries no such thing. I'd like to know how big of an issue this will ultimately be.

Welcome Maggie, Sounds like you are doing really well. I have found that as long as I plan ahead this has been a very easy way of eating to follow and stay on track with. Enjoy the new found energy, and also enjoy watching the numbers on the scale go down, down, down!!

I do not buy organic and/or grass fed beef or dairy, and it has not been a problem for me. I would love to buy it, but like you, just can't afford or find a lot of it. I do, however, try to make as many of my own condiments as my schedule will allow. Things like homemade mayo, salad dressing, bbq sauce, etc. Many of the commercial ones have sugar and/or soybean oil, and I'm trying to get away from the soybean oil. I don't fret if I can't get to it. It is all a process and a journey, and I just do the best I can. If it is too hard, I won't stay the course, KWIM?

So far, this has been easier than any other "diet" I've been on, and that shocks me. I thought it would be a huge ordeal for me to give up what I have.

I just now spent an hour (!) SCRUBBING my house. I only had to stop because I was hungry. I've never had that kind of energy. I mean, I keep a clean house, but I've neglected detail cleaning it for awhile now. I'll be going back to it when I'm done eating my salmon/mayo lunch.

So far, this has been easier than any other "diet" I've been on, and that shocks me. I thought it would be a huge ordeal for me to give up what I have.

I just now spent an hour (!) SCRUBBING my house. I only had to stop because I was hungry. I've never had that kind of energy. I mean, I keep a clean house, but I've neglected detail cleaning it for awhile now. I'll be going back to it when I'm done eating my salmon/mayo lunch.

A word of warning about the mayo -- it can cause stomach aches when you are in NK. This is blamed on the high omega-3 fatty acid content of the soybean oil used to make mayo. But I think I have gotten a stomach ache from mayo I made myself, from very light olive oil. Should be little or no omega-3's in that. (Unless it really is "very light" because soy bean oil has been added to it...) So I am not absolutely sure.

Maggie, Welcome and congratulations for taking this positive step in your life for your health! There is a lot of information and it can be overwhelming but it sounds like you are off to a great start. Don't worry about the grassfed stuff. Just by eliminating sugar and gluten you are taking an enormous steps towards becoming more healthy. As you get further along you may want to look into ordering those things online (I order from grassland beef) or not. It's totally up to you! I got to my smallest size 13 years ago from this WOE and am going strict again now to lose 15lbs that crept on in the last couple years. When I did it 13 years I had never heard of grassfed beef.

I am 4 weeks in and what I have found is that my body just lets me know what I need. Somedays I crave eggs, somedays it's salmon.

Just to let you know, it took me about 2 weeks before I stopped feeling nauseous from all the fat at meals, and to not feel kind of crappy. And then this past week at around 21 days I started feeling REALLY good. I look forward to seeing you around here and hearing about your progress!

So I thought of another question. I apologize if I don't seem knowledgeable, but I appreciate any help.

Like I said in my first post, I have a lot to lose. Is LCHF realistic for my entire weight loss, or should I go another route? Ultimately, I'd like to be full Paleo when I get down to maintenance level.

Maggie - it is certainly possible to lose the entire amount via LCHF. If it is realistic is entirely up to you. I have personally found that I do not lose weight with any amount of carbs. The percentage of fat / protein / carbs that works best while keeping your sanity is highly individual. I personally have found that what works best for me is 60 - 75% calories from fat (most days are around 70%), 20 - 30g of carbs with one day a week in the 30 - 40g range and the rest of my calories is protein.

I have found this diet very easy to stick to. If you like to cook, it really is fun cooking with so much cream and butter as part of your diet!

Hi Maggie! I am new, too; tomorrow is the one week mark. It sounds like you and I are at very similar places in life. I'm finding it hard to get enough fat during the work week, but I'm working on it. Best of luck to you; stay poking around the boards as there is a TON of useful info and helpful people here.

BTW, if you have any spare energy, come on over and clean my house too!

1/2 an avocado is 9g of carbs? According to the nutritional info in caloriecount, there is only 1.4g carbs in an entire medium avocado.... hmmmm

Anyway, welcome!

I do my own primal version of LCHF, and they work great together. I do like high-fat milk products, and my body responds nicely to them, so I don't want to go paleo.

In my opinion, it is important to eventually find the best sources of animal products possible for the most nutritional benefit. But, you are already aware of this issue, so I'm sure you will eventually find a way!

My parents also live in a very small town (in Missouri). They are eating the primal diet. After tons of searching, they found they can buy their cage-free eggs from the Amish at an affordable price. They also buy their cheese from them. Despite the fact that it is a very tiny town, there is a butcher in town that they order from. The butcher actually knows the farmers that he buys from right in the area. My parents look at the local paper every week for the butcher's deals.

I also helped my mom make a grocery list of all the good items that the Walmart does offer (which is basically the only store in the entire town.... quite sad). Even in their little town, for example, they just started carrying organic coconut oil at an affordable price!

Anyway, just do your best and keep your ears and eyes open for better animal products! I thought it would also be impossible for my parents in their small town, since their only option is Walmart.... but after searching out other options, they are able to eat healthy in an affordable way.

Good luck with your keto journey! That carb count for avocado seems a little high. I use a scale to weigh avocado after removing the seed & peel, and a small Hass avocado usually weighs 75-80 grams. That comes out to 7 g carbs and 5.4 g fiber, for 1.6 net carbs.